Bashar Hafez al-Assad is the President of Syria and Regional Secretary of the Syrian-led branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. He has served as President since 2000, when he succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, who had ruled Syria for 30 years prior to his death. Al-Assa... Explore this topic

Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest. A country of fertile plains, high mountains and deserts, i... Explore this topic

The Syrian civil war is an ongoing armed conflict in Syria between forces loyal to the Syrian Ba'ath Party government and those seeking to oust it. The conflict began on 15 March 2011, with popular demonstrations that grew nationwide by April 2011. These demonstrations were pa... Explore this topic

Hama north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 312,994 (2004 census), Hama is the fifth-largest city in Syria after Aleppo, Damascus, Homs and Latakia. The city is renowned for its seventeen norias used for watering the gardens, ... Explore this topic

A United Nations Security Council resolution is a UN resolution adopted by the fifteen members of the Security Council; the UN body charged with "primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security". The UN Charter specifies that a draft resolution o... Explore this topic

The international community is a phrase used in international relations in reference to themselves by the United States of America and its allies in the widest sense. It does not refer literally to all peoples, cultures and governments of the world. The term is used to imply t... Explore this topic

The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident, is a term referring to different nations depending on the context. There is no agreed upon definition about what all these nations have in common. The concept of the Western part of the earth has its roots in Greco-Ro... Explore this topic

The United Nations Security Council is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations and is charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Its powers, outlined in the United Nations Charter, include the establishment of peacekeeping operations, the e... Explore this topic

Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west. With an area of almost 1.8 mill... Explore this topic

Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, commonly known as Colonel Gaddafi, was a Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He served as the ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 ... Explore this topic